docs/diploma

diff thesis/tex/2-MarketAnalysis.tex @ 374:3445852ed736

applied comments by henry atting and jochen roth
author meillo@marmaro.de
date Mon, 02 Feb 2009 12:04:32 +0100
parents d51894e48762
children 91eb129dd695
line diff
     1.1 --- a/thesis/tex/2-MarketAnalysis.tex	Sat Jan 31 21:39:53 2009 +0100
     1.2 +++ b/thesis/tex/2-MarketAnalysis.tex	Mon Feb 02 12:04:32 2009 +0100
     1.3 @@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
     1.4  
     1.5  Electronic communication is ``communication by computer'', according to the \name{WordNet} database of \name{Princeton University} \citeweb{wordnet}. Mobile phones and fax machines should be seen as computers here too. The \name{Science Glossary} of the \name{Pennsylvania Department of Education} describes electronic communication as ``System for the transmission of information using electronic technology (e.g., digital cameras, cellular telephones, Internet, television, fiber optics).'' \citeweb{science-glossary-pa}.
     1.6  
     1.7 -Electronic communication needs no transport of tangible things, only electrons, photons, or radio waves need to be transmitted. Thus electronic communication is fast in general. With costs mainly for infrastructure and very low costs for data transmission, electronic communication is also cheap communication. As underlying transport infrastructure, primary the Internet is used; thus electronic communication is available nearly everywhere around the world. These properties---fast, cheap, available---make electronic communication well suited for long distance communication.
     1.8 +Electronic communication needs no transport of tangible things, only electrons, photons, or radio waves need to be transmitted. Thus electronic communication is fast in general. With costs mainly for infrastructure and very low costs for data transmission, electronic communication is also cheap communication. Primary the Internet is used as underlying transport infrastructure. Thus electronic communication is available nearly everywhere around the world. These properties---fast, cheap, available---make electronic communication well suited for long distance communication.
     1.9  
    1.10  As globalization proceeds and long distance communication becomes more and more important, the future for electronic communication is bright.
    1.11  
    1.12 @@ -41,7 +41,7 @@
    1.13  
    1.14  
    1.15  \subsection{Life cycle analysis}
    1.16 -Life cycle analysis are common for products but also for technologies. This one here is for electronic communication technologies. The first dimensions regarded is the life time of the subject. It is segmented into the introduction, growth, mature, saturation, and decline phases. The second dimension can display market share, importance, or similar values. The graph has always an S-line shape, with a slow start, a rapidly increasing first half, the highest level in the fourth phase, and a slowly declining end. Reaching the end of the life cycle means, the subject gets inherited by successors or the market situation changed thus it is old fashioned.
    1.17 +Life cycle analysis are common for products but also for technologies. This one here is for electronic communication technologies. The first dimension regarded is the life time of the subject. It is segmented into the introduction, growth, mature, saturation, and decline phases. The second dimension can display market share, importance, or similar values. The graph has always an S-line shape, with a slow start, a rapidly increasing first half, the highest level in the fourth phase, and a slowly declining end. Reaching the end of the life cycle means, the subject gets inherited by successors or the market situation changed thus it is old fashioned.
    1.18  
    1.19  The current position on the life cycle of some selected communication technologies is depicted in figure \ref{fig:comm-lifecycle}. It is important to notice that the time dimension can be different for each technology---some life cycles are shorter than others---the shape of the graph, however, is the same.
    1.20  
    1.21 @@ -182,7 +182,7 @@
    1.22  \subsection{Trends for electronic mail}
    1.23  \label{sec:email-trends}
    1.24  
    1.25 -Noting remains the same, so does the email technology not. Emailing in future will probably differ from emailing today. This section tries to identify possible trends affecting the future of electronic mail.
    1.26 +Nothing remains the same, so does the email technology not. Emailing in future will probably differ from emailing today. This section tries to identify possible trends affecting the future of electronic mail.
    1.27  
    1.28  
    1.29  \subsubsection*{Provider independence}
    1.30 @@ -190,9 +190,9 @@
    1.31  
    1.32  Outgoing mail is send either with the web mail client of the provider or using \name{mail user agent}s sending it to the provider for relay. Incoming mail is read with the web mail client or retrieved from the provider via \NAME{POP3} or \NAME{IMAP} to the local computer to be read using the \name{mail user agent}. This means all mail sending and receiving work is done by the provider.
    1.33  
    1.34 -The reason therefor is originated in the time when people used dial-up connections to the Internet. A mail server needs to be online to receive email. Sending mail is no problem, but receiving it is hardly possible with an \MTA\ being few time online. Internet service providers had servers running all day long connected to the Internet. So they offered email service, and they still do.
    1.35 +The reason therefore is originated in the time when people used dial-up connections to the Internet. A mail server needs to be online to receive email. Sending mail is no problem, but receiving it is hardly possible with an \MTA\ being few time online. Internet service providers had servers running all day long connected to the Internet. So they offered email service, and they still do.
    1.36  
    1.37 -Nowadays, dial-up Internet access became rare; the majority has broadband Internet access paying a flat rate for it. Hence the time being online not affect costs anymore, even traffic is unlimited. Today it is possible to have an own mail server running at home. The technical problem remaining is the changing \NAME{IP} addresses one gets assigned every 24 hours. But this is solvable with one of the dynamic \NAME{DNS} services; they provide the mapping of a fixed domain name to the changing \NAME{IP} addresses.
    1.38 +Nowadays, dial-up Internet access became rare; the majority has broadband Internet access paying a flat rate for it. Hence the time being online does not affect costs anymore, even traffic is unlimited. Today it is possible to have an own mail server running at home. The technical problem remaining is the changing \NAME{IP} addresses one gets assigned every 24 hours. But this is solvable with one of the dynamic \NAME{DNS} services; they provide the mapping of a fixed domain name to the changing \NAME{IP} addresses.
    1.39  
    1.40  Home servers become popular for central data storage and multimedia services, these days. Being assembled of energy efficient elements, power consumption is no big problem anymore. These home servers will replace video recorders and \NAME{CD} music collections in the near future. It is also realistic that they will manage heating systems and intercoms too. Given the future leads to this direction, it will be a logical step to have email and other communication provided by the own home server as well.
    1.41  
    1.42 @@ -235,7 +235,7 @@
    1.43  
    1.44  Provider independence through running an own mail server at home asks for easy configuration of the \MTA. Providers have specialists to configure the systems, but ordinary people do not. Solutions are either having some home service system for computer configuration established with specialists coming to ones home to set up the systems; like it is already common for problems with the power and water supply systems. Or configuration needs to be easy and fool-prove, to be done by the owner himself. The latter solution depends on standardized parts that fit together seamlessly. The technology must not be a problem itself. Only settings custom to the users environment should be left open for him to set. This of course needs to be doable using a simple configuration interface like a web interface. Non-technical educated users should be able to configure the system.
    1.45  
    1.46 -Complex configuration itself is not a problem if simplification wrappers around it do provide an easy interface. The approach of wrappers to make it look easier to the outside is a good concept in general. %FIXME: add ref
    1.47 +Complex configuration itself is not a problem if simplification wrappers provide an easy interface. The approach of wrappers to make it look easier to the outside is a good concept in general. %FIXME: add ref
    1.48  It still lets the specialist do complex and detailed configuration, and also offering a simple configuration interface to novices. \sendmail\ took this approach with the \name{m4} macros. %fixme: add ref
    1.49  Further more is it well suited to provide various wrappers with different user interfaces (e.g.\ graphical programs, websites, command line programs; all of them either in a questionnaire style or interactive).
    1.50  
    1.51 @@ -267,7 +267,7 @@
    1.52  
    1.53  %The trends in the communication market are consolidation, integration, and the merge of communication hardware. All this goes along with market's change to Unified Messaging.
    1.54  
    1.55 -Unified Communication, as next step after Unified Messaging, is about the integration of asynchronous an synchronous communication channels. It seems impossible to merge the two worlds on basis of email in an evolutionary way. As only a revolutionary change of the whole email concept would make that merge possible, it is best to ignore it. New designed technologies are usually superior to heavily patched and bent old technologies, anyway. A general merge of synchronous and asynchronous communication has good chances to be fatal for email.
    1.56 +Unified Communication, as next step after Unified Messaging, is about the integration of synchronous and asynchronous communication channels. It seems impossible to merge the two worlds on basis of email in an evolutionary way. As only a revolutionary change of the whole email concept would make that merge possible, it is best to ignore it. New designed technologies are usually superior to heavily patched and bent old technologies, anyway. A general merge of synchronous and asynchronous communication has good chances to be fatal for email.
    1.57  
    1.58  Until Unified Communication will become reality---if ever---electronic mail has a good position, also as basis for Unified Messaging.
    1.59